“Yes, you have. There’s no doubt about that. That is a part of the reason why I wanted to hire someone. You’ve been kind enough to take on more workload than you should have been given and while we appreciated it, me especially, we didn’t think it was fair to keep putting that burden on you. We also needed to try and elevate things quickly, and we do not have the right staff or enough people to do that. I mean, we have a lot of big things coming up in the pipeline plus a dozen more ideas that we are currently thinking about testing. If they prove to be a success, then we will incorporate them into the organization.”
“But, Sam…” I hung my head low.
Sam walked up to me and placed his hands on my arms, “We definitely need someone to lead the charge on these new campaigns and Callum is great at cause marketing, and he’s already an amazing social influencer. With his skill set, we can definitely get more people caring about the organization and all of our existing campaigns, but this doesn’t diminish the efforts you have made for us. You have done amazing things, and I am eternally grateful.”
“What’s this we business?” I huffed.
“Jamie, don’t be upset please?” Sam broke out the puppy dog eyes, I’m a goner. He had this look about him whenever he felt like he was to blame for my unhappiness.
“Don’t worry, I’m not upset. I just feel like I’m going to get what I loved doing taken away and because this whole thing was something I wasn’t privy to. It makes me feel like I’m just barely realizing that I was never a part of the decision-making process.” I frowned.
“You are always a part of any decisions I make, Jamie.”
“No, I’m not. I was never a part of the decision-making, the board would never allow it because it’s beyond my pay grade and the only reason I was included was that you included me because you love me and that’s it.”
“It had to be kept quiet. We were trying to convince him to give us a shot for a few months, if not longer. He’s very particular on what he takes on, and although it was tough to convince him over the past few weeks, he told us that some personal plans of his had changed this morning and since he was going to be in town anyway, he was going to give us a shot for now. It’s a sensitive situation, and we didn’t want to do anything that would ruin how things have progressed with him. I’m sure you can understand.” Sam explained.
“I guess. Are you sure there isn’t anything I should be worried about? I mean, what’ll happen to me? Am I getting the boot?”
“Aww, sweetheart. You aren’t getting the boot. Why would we get rid of you, you’ve done so well. The fact that the organization is doing well also is even more of a reason to get him. He will be able to help us control all of it, and as far as you’re concerned, I want you to continue to help with product development and marketing. I want you to work alongside Callum as I don’t know his protégé? Even if he chooses to leave after a few months, being under his wing, you will be able to learn so much.”
“His protégé?”
“Well, you don’t have to call it that. Just look at it as having the same position but this time having someone more qualified than me to be your guide or mentor.” Sam rubbed my arms trying to comfort me. “Anything else you want to talk about?”
“No, that’s it.” I exhaled. “I just don’t want to stop being challenged at work.”
“Alright, good. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it but everything’s fine and don’t worry, I have some ideas that I want to narrow down first before I run them by you.”
“Okay.” I beamed.
“I love you, you know.” Sam cupped my face with his hands and placed a light kiss on my lips.
“I know, and I love you too.”
“Ey, Sammy. Took a bit to find the loo but I love the place. Very top notch.” a mysterious man popped out suddenly and ruined what could have been the beginning of a romantic interlude. Could he be Callum King? Certainly looks like him.
“Thank you. Took me a while to get this place to the way I wanted it to look. Jamie here helped with the final touches.” Sam gestured toward me
“You’ve got an exquisite taste.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Jamie, I wanted to introduce you to Callum. As you already know, he’s going to be our new Marketing Director. Callum, this is my girlfriend, Jamie. She also works at the Foundation.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Callum smiled.
So he was the infamous Callum King. Tall, blonde with crisp blue eyes and an athletic build. He hadn’t said much yet, but it felt intimidating standing in his presence somehow. Was this some sort of hypnosis?
“She has been handling a lot of the product development projects for the past year, so if you have any questions about what we have been doing up until now, she’d be your go-to woman. Right, Jamie?”
Right. (Sarcasm).
I threw up a fake smile, “Oh, definitely. Anything you need to know, feel free and ask.” Sam is so lucky that I care about him a lot. Otherwise, I’d chop things off of him for putting me in this predicament and why was Callum grinning at me?
“I invited Callum over for lunch and a beer as sort of a pre-welcoming celebration. He was anxious to get more acquainted with the Foundation’s current state of affairs, so why not discuss everything over good food and drink, right?”
“Well, I will definitely have some questions. So, Sam, you were telling me about those window treatment of yours?”
“Yes, they are Roman Shades. I’m not sure what your living situation is right now, but are you looking to decorate?”
“Not yet, I’m just renting a place right now. Eventually, I’d like to purchase a home for myself or for at least investment purposes.”
“I should get going and let you two get back to whatever it was that you were doing.” I took a few steps backward.
“Don’t be silly, the more, the merrier eh Sammy?”
“You are correct. Jamie, you don’t have to leave. Come join us. Seeing as you’ve been handling things up until now, I’m sure Callum would love to hear your input and thoughts about where things are on the front lines.”
“Definitely. Any insight that you have would be tremendous. I’ll take any information you are willing to share.” Callum agreed.
“I guess I could stay for a little bit.” I really didn’t want to stay and get to know the man who’s stealing my thunder, but I couldn’t say no.
“Atta, girl.” he cheered.
“I was just catching Callum up on our progress over the past couple of years,” Sam explained.
I followed the two men into Sam’s living room. Space was very bright seeing as he opened up all of the curtains to allow the light to come in, “You really do have lovely taste, Sammy. Would it be alright to give you a call when I finally make a decision about purchasing a place?”
“Sure, anytime but in the meantime, shall we continue our conversation about our operations and our projections?” Sam asked.
“Definitely.” Callum agreed.
Chapter Four
JAMIE
“EY, WINTERS. HAVE YOU SEEN THE POST COME IN?” Callum sauntered over to my desk on Friday afternoon. He had only been here a few days, and he was already operating as if he had been here forever. When Sam said he was anxious to get started, he wasn’t lying. From the first day he started working here, he had already jotted a ton of notes about ideas he wanted to implement and processes he tried to change.
In that brief time span, he’s annoyed me to no end. I was at the point where I was so frustrated, I refused to show up to work if he’s going to harass me again. For some reason, I keep showing up to work waiting for management to say something.
On Monday, he already called a meeting with the entire office, and although Sam leads the session with an introduction, we spent the whole hour hearing about what Callum wanted to do and the way he wanted certain things he was responsible for doing.
I appreciated the fact that he was so gung-ho and took his position seriously, but it di
dn’t help change my opinion of him. I hoped he would have been a little more personable and less annoying. Don’t get me wrong he was respectful, and the ladies practically drooled over him, I just didn’t like the fact that he walked around like he owned the place. I was here way before him. It wasn’t fair that he was practically given everything I worked so hard trying to build.
“Not to my knowledge but you may want to ask Marta, the receptionist. She handles all incoming and outgoing mail.” I pointed in her direction.
“Right-o. Have Marta ring me up when it arrives. I’m expecting an important package.”
“Sure, Callum.” I flashed him a fake smile and then rolled my eyes the second he turned to go back to his office.
Ugh. So aggravating. Why was he always asking me to do his bidding? I wasn’t an assistant or an intern, and I certainly wasn’t his assistant. How hard was it to talk to Marta himself?
“You are so lucky!” Sarah whined.
“What?” I asked.
“Why doesn’t he ever notice me? How did you do it? How did you get him to talk to you?”
“Who?” I eyed her suspiciously.
“Callum, of course!”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, you have to help me get him.” she pleaded.
“Me? Why are you asking me? You know I don’t get involved in office romances.” I rolled my eyes and returned to my computer.
“Are you kidding? Or did you forget about Sam? You guys are a walking billboard for office romances. Now it’s my turn. I have to get him before anyone else does around here.”
“Assuming he’s single, interested and straight.”
“He’s not wearing a ring,” Sarah argued.
“He could still be dating or have a girlfriend.”
“That’s why I’m asking. You two talk all the time and are really close.”
“Uh, we don’t talk. He just throws directives at me, he could care less about what I said. Plus, we aren’t close at all nor would I want to be.”
“You guys are close enough. You are practically the only one he talks to besides management. I need to find out if I have a chance with him or not. Please!” Sarah begged practically on her knees.
“Okay, okay, okay! Just get up off the floor. I’ll help you with Callum.”
“Thank you so much! I’m forever grateful. Please don’t tell anyone, I don’t want the rumor mill to spread and ruin my chances.” she pulled me into a tight embrace. She was so grateful her arms practically choked the air out of me.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
“Thank you so much, I won’t forget everything you’ve done for me. Oh shoot, he’s coming back. Bye.”
“Isn’t the whole point of this is to have him notice you?” my question went unnoticed as Sarah was already out of earshot.
As his red Duncan yo-yo bounced up and down, Callum strolled across the room towards me with an effervescent strut. Half the time he was so bossy and intense, and the other half of the time he always contradicted himself with his immaturity. If you paid more attention to him than necessary, you often heard the gum smacking that he liked to exaggerate out loud whenever he was bored.
Placing both hands on top of my desk, he leaned in as close as he could before I reached an uncomfortable status, “So tell me something Winters…”
“It’s only been a few minutes, the mail still hasn’t come in.”
“That’s not what I was going to ask, but I do appreciate the update. I like the initiative.”
“Thank you. Did you need something else?”
“Not particularly, I thought I’d take a wee break and walk around to check things out. I’ve been on-the-go all morning. So tell me something.”
“Tell you what?” I wondered.
“Anything that fancies you.”
I pointed in the direction of where Sarah sat, “Well, have you met Sarah? She’s our new intern.”
“Where?” Callum glanced around the room.
“Sarah! Sarah get over here.” I muttered under my breath.
“Oh, that’s me!” Sarah jumped up in surprise and walked quickly towards us. The sound of her heels clicking against the linoleum floor echoed throughout the front office.
“Callum, this is Sarah.” I shoved her further in his direction before returning to my desk to continue my work.
There, now she can distract him enough so that I can get a few hours in without being interrupted all the time.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sarah is it?”
“Yes, sir.” Sarah giggled in coy excitement.
“You can call me Callum. Okay?” Callum asked.
“Okay.” Sarah giggled again. She was a schoolgirl in his presence.
“You know what?” he asked.
“What?”
“I’m famished, I could use a nice juicy burger. Would you care to join me for a little lunch break?”
“Me? You want me to go with you to lunch?” Sarah put a hand on her chest in surprise.
“Yes, it would be a pleasure if you could join me. I have no immediate plans, so I think we will have to, what is it they say, ‘wing it’”?
“Okay!” Sarah giggled again.
Callum held his arm out as an indication for Sarah to hold onto it as they headed towards the exit, “Jamie, hold my calls.”
“Martha is the receptionist…oh, I give up.” I muttered and slapped some paperwork I was reviewing earlier on my desktop after realizing Callum wasn’t paying attention so correcting him would have been a wasted effort.
The good news is that if anything happens between the two of them, then maybe the end result is he will simmer down some and realize two things: a) I’m not the receptionist nor his assistant and b) I’m not the only one in the office that he can bother.
Maybe if they get together, he’ll only have her in his line of sights, and he can leave me the fuck alone because it’s just been less than a week and I already wanted to pull my hair out, and I swear I saw a grey strand this morning.
Later that evening, my annoyance and lousy mood still remained, and neither Sam nor I went to jiu-jitsu practice because of the overtime we were putting in as of late. Whenever I didn’t have an outlet to burn off any unwanted stress, my frustration heightened. As the day went on, I was fortunate that Callum left me alone even when they came back from lunch but I still felt like I wanted to smack him in addition to everything else I encountered that seemed to irritate me.”
“I don’t know how much longer I can handle the likes of him.” I paced around Sam’s living room later that night. I needed to vent and since hiring Callum was Sam’s fault, it was only fair that he hear the brunt of my frustrations.
“Sweetheart, just relax.” Sam glanced up from his computer.
“Sam, don’t ask me to calm down or relax. You don’t understand the kind of stress he causes me every day at work.”
“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a little?”
“Exaggerating?! The guy thinks I’m his assistant. He keeps asking me to do things that he should be giving to Marta. Things that are her responsibilities anyway.” I argued.
“Like what?”
“Well today, he asked me to hold his calls and to also let Marta know when the mail came in because he was waiting for a package.”
“Is that it?” Sam asked.
“What do you mean ‘is that it’?”
“That doesn’t sound like a big deal, Jamie. The guy is new, he doesn’t quite know what everyone does yet. Just give him a chance and be patient with him.” Sam tried to reason with me.
“I have been more than patient with him,” I argued.
“Can you try and be even more patient. Give him time, he’ll figure out how things work, okay?”
“Sam, he KNOWS that Marta is the receptionist. He practically sees her at the receptionist desk when he walks into the office every morning. Her desk sign says receptionist and I’ve told him hundreds of times that she is the receptionist. It
never seems to sink in with him. You’ve got to help me, I don’t know how much of him I can take.”
Sam stood and pulled me into his arms and rubbed my back to comfort me in my time of need, “It’s going to be okay. I know all of this is a little too much for you at one time, but if you can keep hanging on, it’ll level out on its own.”
I leaned back to look up at him, “Can you at least do something about it, like talk to him or something?” I pleaded.
Sam pulled me into another hug and rested his cheek on the top of my head and sighed, “Alright, I’ll talk to him. I guess I could sit down with him and go over the organizational chart, and I don’t know, convey who can assist him.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry he’s put you in such a bad mood but don’t let him get to you. I’m sure he doesn’t realize what he’s doing. Just try and be patient with him. For me, okay?”
“Okay, I will try.”
“I’m about finished reviewing the licensing agreement paperwork I took home from the office, so I’m going to head to bed and get some much-needed rest unless you want to join me,” he suggested with a wink.
“Join you for what?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Join me in my efforts of getting out all of that energy you seem to have. I don’t want to see it go to waste.”
“Oh, my. Samuel Ellis, are you actually propositioning me?” I laughed.
Sam grunted, “I might be.”
“I never thought I’d see the day where you abandoned all of your chivalry and hit on me properly like the rest of the red-blooded, meat-eating males in the world.”
“Sweetheart, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Sam grunted again before he kissed my lips, my neck and my ears.
A hum of excitement vibrated throughout my body in anticipation. Sam liked a slow seduction, always creating nervous anticipation inside of me. He moved in close, his lips parted slowly, and he wrapped one arm around my waist drawing me in. His other hand cupped my face, and his thumb caressed my cheek back and forth before leaning in only to barely brush his lips against mine. His lips were soft and teasing, causing me to moan while my heart pounded.
Twelve Nights (Serendipity Book 3) Page 3
